12. What are the US risk groups?
Among people in the United States, who are the
ones who are most likely to develop a new infection? A lot of these are behavioral. So people, both men and women who have
multiple sex partners, men and women who have a sexually transmitted
disease, men who have sex with men (which is CDC talk for gay
men) sex contacts of infected persons -
heterosexual or homosexual - people who use drugs by injection
(illicit drugs) the household contacts of chronically
infected people, infants born to infected mothers, infants and
children born into the high-risk populations the Asian and Pacific Islanders and African
immigrants, and then at considerably lower risk healthcare workers,
public safety workers. Last on the list, we have hemodialysis
patients. There was a time in the early 70’s where
hepatitis B was absolutely rampant among hemodialysis
patients but with the good hygiene, careful use of
the dialysis machinery, and primarily use of vaccination of people
with chronic renal disease, that’s really almost been eliminated.
11. What is the incidence of chronic HBV in the US?
13. What are the current and future challenges?